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My dad has a vintage Star Wars MOC collection; he's without a job; and he needs money for his mortgage. He has a seriously great collection. Very few yellow bubbles, great over all condition, some rare items and lots of unpunhed cards. I need to know info on AFA grading, so that he can maximize his investment return. Like I said he's in dier straights and he needs to get all that he can out of them, as quickly as he can.

Here's what I need to know:

(1) how much does grading cost(2) how long does it take to recieve your figures(3) is there a reliable place to price these figures including the different variants? I need to know what they're worth.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate help on this. I'm going to do an online check for these things, but I'd really rather find info from experts on this line.

I'd much rather sell to a .orger rather than giving evil-bay such a ridiculous and largely undeserved cut, but I do intend on getting these graded before I try to sell, so please do not ask for lists or bother making offers just yet. PLEASE help me out, and thank you for reading.

I checked it out; it's way too complicated. Also, the time it takes may be too much for the situation he's in, plus the investment cost, though it seems to be quite worth it, is more than he or I can afford at the moment. I'll give it another go another time, but my brain can't take any more computer reading and processing right now. I've been checking prices for these on e-bay all day long, and I just read the entire user agreement for account set up at rebelscum.com. Thanks for the heads up on the site Lemure77! ; ) On Monday I'll get back to it, but tomorrow is the rest day, thank God.

I checked it out; it's way too complicated. Also, the time it takes may be too much for the situation he's in, plus the investment cost, though it seems to be quite worth it, is more than he or I can afford at the moment. I'll give it another go another time, but my brain can't take any more computer reading and processing right now. I've been checking prices for these on e-bay all day long, and I just read the entire user agreement for account set up at rebelscum.com. Thanks for the heads up on the site Lemure77! ; ) On Monday I'll get back to it, but tomorrow is the rest day, thank God.

I've never done it myself but a friend told me it took 5+ weeks to get a single figure back. Best wishes for your Dad!

AFA can be tricky. It's only worth it if you are 100% positive your items will receive a really high grade. It isn't cheap and it takes a pretty long time to get it back from them. Then once posted, it takes a very specific collector to buy them at the high prices they warrant and are USUALLY not super fast sellers.

IMO, you are contradicting yourself in a way. There is rarely a time when you can get max profit in a fast way. It's really one or the other. You will get the cash the fastest if you can sell the entire collection for a price you can live with that is probably about 20 - 30% (or more) less than max profit. If you want more, it will just take longer unless you get really lucky and get a SW collector with a wad of cash to burn.

The middle ground is to put them on ebay (I know, I hate them too) with a starting bid a bit lower than you would be happy getting and let it ride for 7 days and hope you get good bucks for them. Yes you will lose ~15% to Ebay and Paypal but that's a lot less than losing 30% in a super quick scenario. If you do go the ebay route, I suggest starting (which will end) the listing at about 4 - 6 pm PST and have it end on a friday, saturday or sunday night. Much better odds on getting a good price out of it.

I might be pointing out the obvious but just adding my 2 cents to try and help you out the best I can. I am not into Star Wars really but if you can put together a list (or pics) and asking price, I might know a couple of people that might be interested.

I know I'm late to the party but becareful about grading. If they don't score in the 9.0+ range you are really just wasting your money. And at $20+ a figure it's quite the sum.
FYI, if you grade these you really narrow down your market (only a small percentage of people collect graded figures). If you insist on grading them, my suggestion is only grade the best of the best. Your main characters rare cards (Yoda (tri-logo standing picture], Boba Fett [20/21 figure card back], Darth Vader [77 original release], Luke [77 original release], Chewy [77 original release], etc.) and rare figures (i.e. Yak Face). The middle ground/common figures (i.e. squidface) just aren't worth it. Mostly because you've narrowed your market down. Most collectors I know don't like AFA graded things, from non playability to harder to resell.